


Crimson Before Sunrise

by windfall



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: M/M, Post-Break Up, Post-Trade
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-03-14
Packaged: 2018-10-05 03:26:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10296428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windfall/pseuds/windfall
Summary: The trade came as a surprise for P.K. but not so much for Shea.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this a while ago, but here it is! :)  
> Thanks to my beautiful acc-mate, Wind for her beta work. All remaining mistakes are mine.

The trade came as a surprise for P.K. but not so much for Shea. He was both expecting it and not. His performance was not as good as a couple of years ago, but it was still passable, moreover, he was the captain of the Predators, the face of the franchise etc etc. However, the arrival and the increasing role of Roman could have clued him in. 

And here he was, folding some of his clothes into a duffel bag. He was heading to Montreal to find an apartment there. Here in Nashville he still lived in the house that he had lived in with Ryan years ago, his leaving left half the places empty that Shea never bothered to fill again. He clung to the memory of his old life with him as much as a sloth to a dead tree’s branch not caring about anything else. Shea died a little inside when Ryan left him for Minnesota and for Parise. He would have to look for a smaller place that held only his belongings alone.

Now he was forced to leave everything behind, start a new life in Canada trying to fill in the void P.K. would leave. The other man was loved there, so much more than Shea ever has been or could imagine. He was never so outgoing, friendly or generous as his predecessor, he could never be loved, his long-ago relationship was proof enough. Even his dogs loved his teammates more than their owner. It was his life, he had to deal with it.

He didn’t pack a lot, some clothes and things he absolutely needed and couldn’t do without even on road trips. He would live in a hotel room until he found a place to rent. He didn’t want to buy a place, he wouldn’t make that particular mistake again. 

He gave away most of his stuff for charity, his house was on sale, his dogs were with his parents because he couldn’t take them with him into uncertainty. And he would rent a small apartment on an upper floor anyway. Not a good place for dogs. Maybe he would get a cat if the loneliness got too unbearable.

He checked everything for the last time, switched the lamp off and stepped out the door. He felt strangely optimistic for a moment as he breathed in the cool night air, which held the promise of a storm. His optimism was gone with the air he exhaled. The cab was waiting to take him to the airport. 

While he was making his way towards the entrance on foot, the sky opened up and poured heavy, cold rain on him. It was matching his mood, he guessed. In the rain, his tears weren’t prominent on his face. He was leaving for good, for ever. He both wanted to linger here, in the city of his happiness and misery and run, run away and never look back. He knew it was impossible not to return, he will have to come back for at least one game every year, though he hoped he would be able to face it all. Face the hate of a crowd that once liked him, face his teammates whom he spent so much time with, who once had his back and some of whom he had grown close to and he would be wearing colours that were still foreign to him, play with people he might not get to know by then.

For the last years he was a stranger even for his teammates. He wallowed in his pain, being abandoned by the one who was supposed to love him the most, so he spent all of his free time at home with his dogs and tried not to feel. Some days he succeeded, some he did not. Today he did. It was high time for a new start no matter how much it hurt. He had to make the leap of faith, there was no choice. Hockey was all business after all.


End file.
